“If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” – Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com
I know it is not one of the best things to write an article when you are fuming or really angry. But one of the advantages it has is the passion to do something you will not normally do when the emotions have been dissipated through other means. I have decided to take my pen and write down what I feel this morning exactly the way I feel it. I really do not care whose ox is gored . Oh Yeah! I do not give a damn as one African president who has an auspicious sounding first name would say. Just as we say in our local parlance: “I go speak my mind”.
A few days ago, my Airtel Blackberry Internet Services (BIS) subscription was down for over 48 hours and that is half of the story I intend to talk about today. On that fateful day , I discovered my most recent update on Blackberry Messenger(BBM) was about 4 hours late and my e-mails stopped delivering about that time. I called the customer care line to make complaints about my plight. I made it clear to the customer care agent that I had earlier done the normal hard reset and changed intermittently from 2G to 3G without any luck either. She said that they are currently having issues with their network and I should do the hard reset and see if it works again. 12 hours into the downtime I called again. Another Lady picked and she was going to take me through their regular routine. I told her not to bother that I know the problem is from their equipment or BIS platform. All I am asking is how soon are they going to resolve the issue. She was taken aback. For lack of what to say, having realized I beat her to her game of psychology, She said: “ Mr S, It Seems you know Whats up…please just be patient with us , we will rectify it in the next 12 hours”. I was surprised slightly and hesitated to ponder if “Whats up” was actually allowed in a formal conversation. I hung up just when she was about saying the regular “Thank you for choosing Airtel ….bla bla..”. Now, I will digress a little here.
I am worried that sometimes these Customer Care agents think they can always play the game of psychology on you. Here is what they do ( Okay , I think they do). You go through the agony of reaching them after several attempts of trying to initiate the call. Once you start complaining, they likely know where you are heading to because a lot of people must have called earlier to complain of similar problem. Yet the agent would seek of what to tell you -usually do the hard rest, thing or change from 3G to 2G- knowing well that that wont resolve your problem but at least it would create a temporary reprieve for the agent while hoping the next time you call, another person will pick up the call. A practical case of passing the buck!
One of the problems I think Nigerian GSM Telcos customer agents have is the ability to carefully brief customers of technical challenges they experience if they are going through one. They also need to learn how to carefully and politely inform customers of how soon they intend to solve a network problem. If customers are aware, the volume of calls you have to deal with may reduce as they may seek for other alternatives. If they are being kept in the dark, you will have to keep answering the calls as they seek for solutions. Lack of information at the right time cannot only be annoying but frustrating too. The implications on businesses can not only be colossal it also impedes proper planning. I know a handful of friends that condemn Nigerians for being rather too ostentatious by carrying numerous phones all over the place. The truth is you can hardly blame such folks. In Nigeria if you are the type that is disposed to travelling a lot you are bound to be tempted to subscribe to a network that provides a relatively better service wherever you are at every point in time. Even those that do not have at least two phones have numerous SIM cards .
I do not know if I am alone in this, but I am sometimes irritated by these promotions that are actually disguised gifts meant to appease you for their often terrible services. A normal thinking firm should learn how to apologize for interrupted services . Subscribing to the services of a particular company is a contract and there should be an apology if it the terms are not fulfilled by the company. I am not interested in the promos. Give me a good, decent and quality service and you can keep your bribes disguised as freebies. Give me what I deserve and explain to me when services are down. Then make up for the lost time. 30 days of subscription should be 30 days!, not two weeks and some days cumulatively. When the services are restored you should not ignore the feelings of those you claim to offer services to as if it is business as usual. If you place premium on your customers you should apologise at least if you cannot make up for the lost time. A text message will not hurt. But what do I know ? We are in a place where mediocrity is the order of the day and we are used to terrible services. After all, we still scream “UP NEPA!” at the flash of electric bulbs even if electricity has been seized for several days prior to that moment.
Back to the Airtel Story. I ended up waiting for another 24 hours then calling their Customer Service to complain that I am yet to have my BIS restored and any attempt to send a BBM chat shows me a red mark. That is the same mark you get if your subscription has expired. After several trials, eventually I was queued up for a customer agent to attend to. I was particularly irritated while waiting , as the machine kept advertising various fast internet rates and platforms and there was one particularly annoying that kept telling me that it is too late to be a young millionaire at 24 . The whole thing sounded like their internet services were about the fastest innovative thing that ever happened to Nigeria. Geez! I am not even asking you for internet at the speed of light, all I am saying is just restore my Blackberry Internet Service even if it is at a snail’s speed. The summary is I did not get the service restored until after 48 hours as I said earlier.
Honestly, Sometimes , the customer care guys are helpless, they are often not technically competent enough to give you solution to your problems. I know Orange in the UK refers you to their BB specialist once you have issues that their first contact cannot resolve and most times these guys get the job done. And for those who think the problem is peculiar to Airtel, I am sorry to disappoint you. The difference between this firm and others is the obvious one you have between six and half a dozen. I have had encounters with MTN agents that sounded highly irascible on the phone. That story is for another day. I know of a friend that resigned from Glo Customer Care because she was frustrated. She said most times the technical guys do not resolve issues on time and they keep getting calls from customers that are calling just to vent their anger. They cannot do anything about the situation yet their own emotions must be subdued as long as the customer remains online.
While it is easier to blame the GSM Telcos customer care services for the shoddy and appalling ways they treat their customers, it is also important to note that it is a sad culture that affects virtually all other sectors. They just readily serve as the guinea pig because they have about the largest pool of customer base. The banks and so many other organisations aren’t spared either.
I remember walking into one bank that has Orange as its prominent brand colour. I informed the Customer Service (CS) agent that my ATM card was about to expire in a month’s time and have been getting repeated notification anytime I use my ATM card. She explained that I need to wait about two weeks before expiration before coming to file for a new one. I went ahead to explain my fears of being without ATM card if I do not complain early enough since I am not seeking for replacement from the branch my account is domiciled. Instead of allaying my fears, she just raised her voice a little bit and went about telling me how she was doing her job professionally and she has told me what I needed to do. She did inform me, of course , that I do not understand how her system works better than she does. I was not ready to make a scene so I walked away quietly.
Frankly, for issues that can be resolved outside the banking hall, I prefer making complaints via e-mails for that particular bank. It has resolved my problems a great deal of time and spared me of that long, tortuous queue of people waiting to be attended to. That scene alone can stop a smiling man from having a good day, once you step into the banking hall.
The federal parastatals are not any better. I remember trying to get an identity card from one of the firms I once did internship with. The Security guys were always pestering for any means of identification daily. The frustration was getting too much. So I decided to visit the HR guys to fast track my paperwork . I walked into the office one day to narrate the agony I bear daily from the security officials. The guy on sit was not even ready to attend to me, he just looked at me and said,: “ As You can see, nobody else is on sit and we cannot attend to you now” . This was just about 11 am in the morning. He then told me to look around and tell him If I could not see that the office is being relocated. “Alright, when next can I check on you guys? ”, I asked. He looked at me and replied “Just keep checking. I can’t give you a time now and and you will now come and insist I gave you the time…”. I just shook my head and left the office. I wondered how often he wanted me to stop whatever I was doing in my office and make the 15 minutes walk from my office to his department every day, just to get an ID card. That is inter-departmental customer service within the company. I wonder what he would have done to outsiders at his mercy. Whatever must have happened to my Federal Government’s SERVICOM? Their website is down. If Gold rusts what would iron do?
On a concluding note, you have heard that popular saying : “The Customer is the King”. Yeah, it hardly works in Nigeria. He is just a slightly advantaged beggar. Okay it may not be as bad as that, but you know we beg to get the services we deserve in this side of the world. Most of our institutions and firms still run the “No credit for customer today, come tomorrow” kind of businesses. We barely remember the popular Peter Druker quote “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.”. So while it may be business as usual for these guys offering services , It is important as consumers too to know our rights and make service providers to understand that it is not appropriate to sweat to make your money and still beg for the money to work for you. Airtel and others, this is my word of mouth that Jeff Bezos was talking about.
NB: The Airtel BIS has been restored as at 9:30pm on the third day, even at that it is erratic. That was after I had subscribed for BIS on MTN already. So next time you see me, ask me for second phone or SIM 🙂
shimoshi1 